River desperately needed a win on Wednesday night to get their Copa Libertadores campaign up and running, but played underwhelmingly and were only drawing with tough opponents, unable to make the breakthrough in the second half. And then up popped one of the club’s icons to give all three points to the Millonarios. Ariel Ortega’s done it again.
Diego Simeone went with the same starting eleven who’d seen off San Lorenzo so convincingly on Sunday, but this time out they struggled to impose themselves as América looked to get at them at every opportunity. Just fourteen minutes in, Eduardo Tuzzio slipped up and gave the ball to Juan Carlos Mosquero, who wasted no time in whipping over a perfect cross for Salvador Cabañas to meet with his head and silence the home crowd as Juan Pablo Carrizo was left with no chance.
After that, though, River seemed to wake up and start to play a bit themselves, Sebastián Abreu hitting the crossbar (he’s getting closer…) and Ariel Ortega seeing his follow-up shot cleared by one of a crowd of legs on the goal line. A goal seemed inevitable, but the lack of one only served to make River more nervous again, and América in the meantime were looking dangerous on the counter as, a goal to the good, they were much more relaxed and confident in their own attacks. Hernán Rodrigo López had one golden chance to double the visitors’ lead, but after Carrizo had already seemed to resign himself to the ball passing him, López hit it straight at the goalkeeper’s feet and River were let off.
River finally made them pay for that profligacy when Radamel Falcao García continued his recent knack of scoring in big games, finishing well after Abreu had brought the ball down for him with a header. Level at the break, River went in with renewed confidence, and came out all guns blazing thereafter.
Alexis Sánchez was brought on at half-time, and Diego Buonanotte replaced Matías Abelairas around the hour mark. With these changes, River’s attacking options started to overwhelm América and the visitors were forced more and more onto the back foot. Still, however, the hosts couldn’t actually find a way through the resistance. Ortega couldn’t quite find a good enough contact with his head after a cross from Sánchez, and Armando Navarrete in the América goal made saves from El Burrito as well as from Falcao and Abreu.
As it went on without another goal, though, River’s players and fans were getting desperate. A fight in stoppage time didn’t help matters, seeing both sides reduced to ten men after Falcao came to blows with José Castro, but immediately afterwards, with the final kick of the game, Ortega finally did it, sending a shot arrowing into the net to send the Monumental into convulsions of joy and hand River their first three points of the Libertadores group stage. They now share that total with San Martín and Universidad Católica, after the Chileans beat River’s conquerors of last week on Tuesday night.
Filed under: Argentine football, Ariel Ortega, Continental football, Copa Libertadores, Diego Simeone, Football, Football clubs, Football managers, Juan Pablo Carrizo, Players, Results, River Plate | Tagged: Argentine football, Ortega, Copa Libertadores, Simeone, South American football, Falcao García, River Plate Club América, Cabañas, Rubén Romano
